Franklin Gray and White Blog

Football Player To Receive $7.5 Million From University For Brain Injury

From Sports Illustrated:

"La Salle University will pay $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit over a severe brain injury a former football player suffered in a 2005 game.

Lawyers for Preston Plevretes (plev-REE'-tees) of Marlboro, N.J., say the brain injury occurred when Plevretes returned to play a month after he had suffered a concussion in practice.

They fault La Salle for failing to properly handle his complaints of headaches. La Salle settled the suit without admitting wrongdoing.

The 23-year-old Plevretes has limited speech, can walk only short distances and has short-term memory loss

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Unfortunately, brain injuries received as the result of participating in sports are becoming too prevalent of an occurrance.  However, brain injuries are often the result of medical negligence during a child's delivery, a truck or auto accident, or general medical malpractice.  If you or a loved one have received a brain injury due to the negligence of another, please contact the experienced brain injury attorneys of Franklin Gray & White.

Franklin Gray & White

The Speed Mansion

505 West Ormsby Avenue

Louisville, Kentucky 40203

Tel: (502) 637-6000

Toll-Free: (800) 637-6033

Fax: (502) 637-1413

email: mwhite@franklingrayandwhite.com

New Mexico Man Receives $1 Million Medical Malpractice Settlement

From the Las Cruces Sun News:

A jury has awarded $1 million to a Las Cruces man who alleged a surgeon was negligent in repairing a colon perforation after a colonoscopy.

General surgeon Dr. David Friedman operated on Michael Salopek in February 2005, to repair a tiny perforation he had sustained during a colonoscopy, Las Cruces attorney Marci Beyer said.

However, Friedman did not find the perforation, which continued to leak into Salopek's abdominal area for 11 days. Medical expenses just to find the perforation totaled $165,000, Beyer said.

The six-day medical malpractice trial, in 3rd Judicial District Court Judge Jerald A. Valentine's courtroom, went to the jury, which deliberated for 12 hours Tuesday before returning with its verdict.

Defense attorney Thomas Sandenaw Jr. of Las Cruces said it would be inappropriate to comment before a final judgment had been entered by the judge. That should happen next week, Beyer said.

Friedman testified that since he couldn't initially find the perforation, he assumed it had sealed itself, Beyer said.

"We don't think he took responsibility because he would not admit he did anything wrong. He thought it was a legitimate assumption," Beyer said. "We argued that that was not the standard of care and the jury agreed with us.

"There were procedures he could have used to locate the perforation and he did not use those until (Salopek) went back in 11 days later,"

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The law firm of Franklin Gray & White represents victims of medical malpractice.  If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of  a medication error or other medical negligence, please contact the experienced legal team at Franklin Gray & White for a free consultation.  For more information, see our online library.

Franklin Gray & White

The Speed Mansion

505 West Ormsby Avenue

Louisville, Kentucky 40203

Tel: (502) 637-6000

Toll-Free: (800) 637-6033

Fax: (502) 637-1413

email: mwhite@franklingrayandwhite.com

Study Reveals Doctor Behavior Leads To Medical Errors

From the New York Times:

"It was the middle of the night, and Laura Silverthorn, a nurse at a hospital in Washington, knew her patient was in danger.

The boy had a shunt in his brain to drain fluid, but he was vomiting and had an extreme headache, two signs that the shunt was blocked and fluid was building up. When she paged the on-call resident, who was asleep in the hospital, he told her not to worry.

After a second page, Ms. Silverthorn said, “he became arrogant and said, ‘You don’t know what to look for — you’re not a doctor.’ ”

He ignored her third page, and after another harrowing hour she called the attending physician at home. The child was rushed into surgery.

“He could have died or had serious brain injury,” Ms. Silverthorn said, “but I was treated like a pest for calling in the middle of the night.”

Her experience is borne out by surveys of hospital staff members, who blame badly behaved doctors for low morale, stress and high turnover. (Ms. Silverthorn said she had been brought to tears so many times that she was trying to start her own business and leave nursing.)

Recent studies suggest that such behavior contributes to medical mistakes, preventable complications and even death.

“It is the health care equivalent of road rage,” said Dr. Peter B. Angood, chief patient safety officer at the Joint Commission, the nation’s leading independent hospital accreditation agency.

A survey of health care workers at 102 nonprofit hospitals from 2004 to 2007 found that 67 percent of respondents said they thought there was a link between disruptive behavior and medical mistakes, and 18 percent said they knew of a mistake that occurred because of an obnoxious doctor. (The author was Dr. Alan Rosenstein, medical director for the West Coast region of VHA Inc., an alliance of nonprofit hospitals.)

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Medical negligence and errors are a too common occurrance and can lead to serious health consequences and even death.  The law firm of Franklin Gray & White represents victims of medical malpractice.  If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of medical negligence or error, please contact the experienced legal team at Franklin Gray & White for a free consultation.

Hospital Falls

Falls in hospitals occur all to often and have devastating results. Many times, the falls are preventable. Too often falls are the result of hospital staff failing to properly monitor patients or attend to them as necessary. Patients being medicated with benzodiazepines are especially vulnerable to falls as are patients within compromised ambulatory ability. Family members with loved ones in the hospital should be vigilant in ensuring that hospital staff do their job in ensuring that their patient receive proper safety measures to prevent a fall.

$1.2 million Lexington Kentucky Malpractice Verdict

A Fayette County Kentucky jury awarded $1.2 million to the plaintiff in a medical malpractice trial. Larry Franklin represented the plaintiff in the week-long trial in Lexington Kentucky.

Lawsuit Filed Over Death In NYC ER

From MSNBC.com, a lawsuit has been filed over the death of a woman who collasped in a New York City emergency room and was ignored by staff for about one hour.  This story has been garnering attention from the national media as security footage from the ER appears to show several members of the hospital's staff noticing the patient lying on the floor without making any attempt to check on her condition.

This is a tragic story that draws much needed attention to the mistreatment too often suffered by the poor and mentally disabled at medical institutions across the country.  To that end, the law firm of Franklin Gray & White works on behalf of clients and their families who have been the victim of medical malpractice as well as nursing home abuse or neglect.  If you or a loved one have suffered such injuries, please contact the attorneys at Franklin Gray & White for a free consultation.

Antibiotics for Preterm Labor Linked to Cerebral Palsy

From the Washington Post, two recent studies have found a link between preterm labor antibiotics and cerebral palsy.  The article states that "not only do antibiotics not help pregnant women experiencing premature labor without ruptured membranes and no sign of infection, they may increase the risk of cerebral palsy in some children."

A doctor interviewed for the article said this about the study, "This is a good study, because it's a large number of patients, and it shows that the use of antibiotics do not help and are possibly harmful for preterm labor in the absence of rupture of the membrane (broken water)."

However, doctors who were interviewed about the study were quick to warn pregnant women not to neccessarily avoid antibiotics though, stating, "We need to reassure pregnant women that, if they have signs of infection and antibiotics are clearly indicated, then they should feel no reluctance to accept antibiotics."

The law firm of Franklin Gray & White has experience litigating cases involving birth injuries and cerebral palsy.  If you are concerned that you or a loved one has experienced a birth injury, please contact the attorneys at Franklin Gray & White for a free consultation. 

Lawsuit Claims Hospital Should Have Known Doctor Presented Danger to Patients

From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

"At first glance, surgeon John Christian Gunn seemed golden.

A graduate of Yale Medical School, he was eager to join Maysville's Meadowview Regional Medical Center, an acute-care facility that couldn't wait to get him on staff, according to court documents.

But within months of his 2005 arrival in Kentucky from Hillsboro, Texas, two of Gunn's surgeries had gone dangerously awry, leading a Maysville physician to bluntly write to a hospital administrator saying that Gunn was a danger to patients.

hortly after that warning, 71-year-old Herberta "Bertie" Lang was dead following one of Gunn's surgeries. Ironically, the physician who had warned the hospital was Lang's personal doctor.

A trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Mason County Circuit Court, where Lang's family has sued Meadowview, its former chief executive and the company that operates the hospital for corporate negligence.

Gunn's insurance company settled last year with the family. Terms of the settlement are confidential.

Todd Thompson, the attorney for Meadowview Regional Medical Center; its owner, Lifepoint Hospitals; and former Meadowview chief executive officer David Loving did not return phone calls requesting comment.

Gunn was granted temporary privileges at Meadowview even though he had taken and failed the General Surgery Board exams in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. He also failed the exam in 2006.

Hospitals use their own discretion on whether to insist on board certification before allowing physicians to do surgery.

The case raises questions about how the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure monitors and credentials doctors. When Gunn received his Kentucky medical license in 2006, his temporary privileges at Meadowview had already been revoked. The licensure board file notes that it did not know that.

It's unclear what Gunn did after he left Kentucky. He told the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure that he was going to Miami for a fellowship, and Florida Department of Health records indicate an active resident's status."

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The law firm of Franklin Gray & White represents victims of medical malpractice.  If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of  a medication error or other medical negligence, please contact the experienced legal team at Franklin Gray & White for a free consultation.  For more information, see our online library.

Franklin Gray & White

The Speed Mansion

505 West Ormsby Avenue

Louisville, Kentucky 40203

Tel: (502) 637-6000

Toll-Free: (800) 637-6033

Fax: (502) 637-1413

email: mwhite@franklingrayandwhite.com

Actor's Family Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit With Hospital

From the Los Angeles Times:

"Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly reached a settlement with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for $750,000 over a medication error last year that nearly killed the couple's twin infants, according to papers filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Nurses at the hospital mistakenly gave twins Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace 1,000 times the recommended dose of the blood thinner heparin, leaving them vulnerable to uncontrolled bleeding and leaving them, for a time, in critical condition."

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Medication errors  occur frequently and can lead to serious health consequences and even death.  The law firm of Franklin Gray & White represents victims of medical malpractice.  If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of  a medication error or other medical negligence, please contact the experienced legal team at Franklin Gray & White for a free consultation.  For more information, see our online library.